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Some Clarifying Comments On Global Rescue

(posted October 27, 2006)

By now, you have probably seen the front-page report in last month's issue of The Hunting Report about Global Rescue, the medical evacuation firm that also provides in-the-field rescue if necessary. Quite a few subscribers have already signed up with the company, which we now endorse and represent. Formerly, we endorsed and represented MedJetAssist.

Not surprisingly, a few questions have come up about Global Rescue. Most of them are questions I had myself before I came to the conclusion that the company is what it says it is and is capable and committed to doing what it promises - namely, provide paid members medical evacuation from anywhere in the world if they are injured or ill enough to require hospitalization. Importantly, the promise is to evacuate members to a hospital of their choosing, not to the "nearest appropriate medical facility," which is what some companies promise, reserving to themselves the right to define "appropriate."

Even more important, Global Rescue promises its members that it will do all that is humanly possible to pick them up in the field where they are injured or ill. This is the distinguishing feature that sets Global Rescue apart from any of its competitors, including MedJetAssist. It is the feature, in my view, that makes Global Rescue the natural choice of hunters. It is the feature that persuaded me to end my relationship with MedJetAssist and go with Global Rescue.

Quite naturally, most of the questions I have been fielding revolve around this rescue component of Global Rescue. Will they really do it? Can a firm really afford to promise this?

The answer to both questions is yes, and here's why. First, Medical Evacuation Firms have insurance policies that cover the cost of evacuations. They all shift this risk to large international insurance consortiums like Lloyds of London. When a member calls and needs help, it is the insurance company that is on the hook, not the evacuation firm.

Importantly, the major cost of an evacuation is the cost of operating a medically-staffed private aircraft. The cost of just operating the aircraft is upwards of $7,000 an hour, and an evacuation from Africa, say, to the US West Coast can take 20 hours or more because small private jets cannot cross the ocean. They have to take the Big Circle Route over the North Atlantic, stopping to refuel every four to five hours. That is the route my own evacuation took after my accident in Cameroon in May, 2005. New E-Mail Extra subscribers who haven't read the story of my accident and evacuation may want to do so by clicking here.

As for the rescue component, yes it is costly to rent a helicopter overseas, and it is costly to get rescue personnel on the scene in a remote area. But not impossibly so by any means, as witness what Global Rescue did in the case of a US doctor who tumbled down the side of a canyon in Peru last year and needed on-site rescue. That doctor was a MedJetAssist member who immediately called MedJetAssist, only to be told that he would be helped only when he made his way to Lima on his own. Fortunately, someone on the trek with the injured doctor knew about Global Rescue and used a satellite phone to call that firm's Operation Center in Boston. You already know the rest of the story. Global Rescue had a chopper in the canyon at 10:30 the next morning and had the injured doctor on his way back to Texas by the end of the day.

As important as the rescue was in the overall scheme of things, the cost of it was negligible compared to the cost of the private jet from Lima to Texas once the doctor had been rescued and stabilized. The ratio of the two expenses is roughly 3 (for the private jet) to 1 (for the rescue), which is approximately how much more expensive Global Rescue is than MedJetAssist. An individual one-year membership in Global Rescue costs $329 while a one-year MedJetAssist membership costs $205.

These numbers are important because they explain how Global Rescue can afford to deliver on its promise. What the numbers don't explain is how Global Rescue is capable of delivering on its promise. The answer lies in a little-known development in the US defense establishment. For reasons that go beyond the scope of this bulletin, many hundreds of our best-trained rescue and combat personnel (Seals, Special Force, Air Force Pararescue) are leaving active duty early in their careers these days, going into the reserves and becoming on-again/off-again employees of private security companies. This almost un-reported development is at the heart of what makes Global Rescue unique and different.

While other medical evacuation firms avoided confronting the absurdity of offering evacuation, but only after members had found some way to save themselves, Global Rescue tapped into this reservoir of uniquely qualified personnel and closed the circle on medical evacuation as a business. Because these superbly trained individuals are occasionally "between assignment," there is a constant pool of talent available at an affordable price. The bottom line is, Global Rescue is financially able and physically capable of providing state-of-the-art rescue service to its members. They are also utterly committed to doing so. If I did not believe that I would never have recommended this service to Hunting Report subscribers, or switched my own personal membership from MedJetAssist to Global Rescue.

But what about pure rescue if you are not injured or ill? And what about medical services in the field if you are ill but not ill enough to be evacuated? Both questions have come up in conversations with Hunting Report subscribers.

The key development that causes Global Rescue to swing into action is a call from an ill or injured member who asks for, and meets the requirements for, an evacuation and/or rescue. Pure rescue of an uninjured member - who is on an ice flow in the Arctic, for example, that has broken away and is floating out to sea - is not a covered activity. As a Global Rescue member, you will be helped, but you will have to pay for it. The same is true if you are uninjured but trapped in a hostile environment - Lebanon, for example, during the recent war; or northern CAR if rebels cross the border and surround your camp.

And here is another important clarification. Say you are in a safari camp in northern CAR and you are injured or ill enough to be evacuated as a covered benefit. But complicating your evacuation is the presence of a rebel force that has to be dealt with in military fashion. Your actual rescue will be covered, but the cost of introducing combatants to make that rescue possible will not be covered.

Clearly, this is an extreme example of what can go wrong. The fact that Global Rescue has thought through a scenario like this is what is important. They are poised to act and save your life. They did just that in the recent war in Lebanon, saving a number of lives.

On a more everyday level, a Hunting Report subscriber has already had occasion to call Global Rescue about a medical condition he experienced in the field in Canada. Seems he is a physician himself who understood his own medical condition and did not want to be evacuated. What he wanted was in-the-field delivery of a prescription drug.

Global Rescue took this member's call and urged him to agree to evacuation, which they deemed to be medically advisable and which would have been provided as a covered benefit. When the member refused, he was advised that any services provided would have to be on a fee basis. What Global Rescue was able to find for the subscriber was an emergency medical specialist in the Northwest Territories who was willing, and legally able, to call in a prescription for the necessary medication, which was turned over to the outfitter's wife in Yellowknife, who placed it aboard a bush flight into camp. The physician member of Global Rescue was thus able to complete his hunt.

The Hunting Report subscriber and Global Rescue member involved in this incident later called me and pointed out that he thought it was important that I clarify what is and is not provided in the field as a covered benefit. In this case, and in every case, what is provided is emergency medical evacuation and rescue (if necessary) of a member who is sufficiently injured or ill to require hospitalization. Anything else is not covered, and cannot be covered because of the terms of the contract Global Rescue has with its insurance carriers. Pure rescue… delivery of drugs in the field… the introduction of combatants to make a rescue possible are not covered benefits. Also, no medical evacuation company in the world promises to go get you if you venture into a country where a US State Department Travel Warning is in effect. Aircraft insurance polices and some other kinds of insurance are voided if you travel to a country where a Travel Warning is in effect.

Ultimately, what is important here are not the exceptions in Global Rescue's coverage. What is important is the company's promise, and its demonstrated ability, to go get you in the field where you are hurt or sick and transport you home to a hospital of your choice in an expeditious manner. Having lain on the ground in the rain in Cameroon with a broken back, I know how serious these matters are. You have my word: I would not recommend this company if I thought they would leave me - or you - lying there in the rain. - Don Causey.

Postscript: You can sign up for Global Rescue on our web site, www.huntingreport.com. Or, if you still have questions about the coverage provided, call The Hunting Report at: 800-272-5656.)

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